The Bachelor 2, the series’ most popular installment, starred gorgeous, sensitive also-ran Gwen Gioia, smug Bachelor and Midwest banker Aaron Buerge, and the “winner,” classy and beautiful psychologist Helene Eksterowicz.

The show is fun to watch, but sometimes people forget it is real life people involved in dating and falling in love, and not just actors delivering lines in front of a director. Marriages are made; hearts get broken because of what happens on TV.

One day, soon after the series aired, Aaron unceremoniously dumped Helene at a Starbucks near her home. Helene thought he was coming to town because they were engaged and in love. Running with the adage “success is the best revenge,” the ladies got together to write a book, Nobody’s Perfect.

Sold out at my local Barnes & Noble, and in fact all the BN stores in the San Fernando Valley just northwest of Los Angeles, it’s hard to get a copy. Borders said they haven’t had it shipped to them yet. Amazon.com ranks the book about #3,000 in sales (it was #5,000 over the weekend), while Bachelor alum Bob Guiney’s book ranks #34,000.

Why are more than twice as many people reading Helene and Gwen’s book than Bachelor Bob’s? Maybe because Bob wrote a book about Bob, while the women, both professional counselors, wrote a book that can both entertain people and help them improve their lives.

We are interviewing the women in a couple days, but in the meantime, here is what we dug up on the internet about these three:

1) HELENE: has been making appearances for local Pennsylvania charities like the Boy Scouts Food Drive and Easter Seals and also does corporate events for companies like Mitsubishi. She still works for the same school district as when the show began.

As a writer for The National Enquirer, she commented on the exploits of Bob Guiney during The Bachelor 4. As a Bachelor alumnus, Helene gets to participate in Bachelor reunion events—there was one this summer in Las Vegas. She also got together with other reality show contestants at an event hosted by Gervase Peterson.

The Bachelor changed her life. She is no longer a typical school psychologist. Both women are represented by Ellie Sciblo at The Reinhard Agency for personal appearances and Rachel Gul at Over the River Public Relations for book publicity.

2) GWEN: According to various message boards, Gwen’s first appearance on reality TV was on the Discovery Channel show, “A Dating Story,” where her on-camera date was with a guy named Joshua. This originally aired in October 2002. After the summer Las Vegas Bachelor reunion, Gwen dated Bob Guiney in between the time he was selected to be the fourth Bachelor, and the time he actually filmed the show. Gwen is represented for acting by Brainbox Talent.

3) AARON BUERGE: Aaron Buerge got the short end of the stick. Originally described by Entertainment Weekly’s Jessica Shaw, “Aaron has made Alex Michel look like Prince Harry. She said that Aaron is 'a Midwestern doofus who speaks like he's addressing the bank staff' and is 'a bland human being.'

According to our internet research, his life consists of judging beauty pageant’s in his father’s first cousin’s home town (click here to see story at www.nevadadailymail.com), getting gawked at while he’s at work, and trying to break into movies. According to the Nevada, Missouri Daily Mail, “more cars coming through the drive-through and outdoor ATM in anticipation of getting a glimpse of Buerge in his office.” He’s clearly a star in southwest Missouri and the town of Springfield, population 152,000. For a family that makes its riches solely from local banking, the rest of the world isn’t important.

Indeed, Buerge is so popular in Springfield, Missouri that “The bank even added, ‘Yes, Aaron Is The Bachelor’ to its street front sign that pictures Buerge to help satisfy the curious.” Now, that’s what I call fame.

On the national front, in October 2003, Buerge was cast in a film that is STILL in the money raising phase called “Antlers” out of Austin, Texas. If you don’t want to wait for the movie to be made or distributed, here is the entire story: http://www.antlersmovie.com/pages/895653/index.htm. Buerge, a millionaire, did have to audition for this film that doesn’t yet have enough money to go into production. Wonder who will foot the bill? The millionaire/star?

INDIEWIRE SAYS “Following in the, uh, esteemed footsteps of Bachelor Alex Michel who made his acting debut in an indie flick called ‘Our Very First Sex Tape,’ another TV Bachelor, Aaron Buerge, is turning to the indie film world…The project is scheduled to start shooting next year around the University of Missouri. They hope to get ‘Mizzou’ alumni such as Sheryl Crow and Tom Berenger to participate as well; one can only hope that bachelorette Trista Rehn can join the gang.”

According to Buerge’s manager, Cip Traub, he “was smart enough to realize that he needed to be careful not to choose the easy B-movie money, silly commercials and ‘Bachelor’ clone types of parts he was receiving.” The films’ press release said, “Instead, Buerge studied with an acting coach, searched for an edgy, character-driven independent film and eventually agreed to an arduous screen test for Cactus Animal Productions.” Were there other candidates for the part? We don’t know. Millionaire candidates? We don’t know that either. Here are some of the highlights of the press release:

“I knew that Aaron had topped the Nielsens and emerged as a favorite on the talk show and personal appearance circuit, but I wanted to muck him up a bit and put him in unusual situations with unusual characters and see how he responded.”

“He blindfolded Aaron and told him to tone down his million-dollar smile and recite his parts with his soul. It was an intense process.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me to see Aaron compared to Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in box office drawing appeal in the future.”

“Being compared with Pitt is nothing new for Buerge since the two actors share roots in Springfield, Missouri…Several Internet fan sites enjoy comparing and contrasting the two men. ‘Really, it’s an honor just to be mentioned in the same sentence as Brad,’ said Buerge.”

So I have it now. They really didn’t cast a millionaire for an indy film with no budget. They REALLY cast Brad Pitt.

Elizabeth Anderson